Chapter Seventeen

Unwanted Advice

When Lunette got home that evening, she found Bres sprawled out on the bed in a very unlordlike fashion and with a balloon wizard hat beside the bed. Wondering what sort of trouble Zack had gotten him into this time, she began poking him in the side until he finally made enough room for her. Finally managing to get into bed, his arms were around her in no time.

"Alright, Bres, don't you try to convince me you went ghost hunting! You went back to that donut shop," Lunette said.

"We were celebrating the opening of my exhibit. Junior told me that he named a donut after me and I didn't want to offend him," Bres explained hazily.

"What did he call it?" Lunette asked with a frown.

"It was in a strange language. I think it is called Pon Farr," Bres said.

"Great," Lunette said flatly. "You weren't there with any witches, were you?"

"You're the only witch for me," Bres said, cuddling up.

"You know what? I think you should lay off the donuts. No more donuts! At least not the night versions," Lunette scolded him.

"I think you should lay off drinking Dark Witch Cocktails," Bres replied.

"Woah… no, no, no. It was part of our wedding agreement; there will be no loss of my personal liberties," Lunette immediately protested.

"Yes, but we must be responsible parents," Bres said.

"We're not parents yet!" she retorted.

"And you got sick on the human wine," he pointed out.

"Well, true, I wasn't expecting that sort of reaction… but my grandfather's wine doesn't affect me that way!" Lunette declared.

"And how much do you have left of that?" Bres asked knowingly.

"I wonder if goblin wine would be better?" she pondered. Bres' gaze, though hazy, still had clear thoughts behind it. "Okay, okay, I'll cut back if you do," she said in resignation.

"Good. Let's have some fun."

"No, no, no… back to your corner!" Lunette said, wagging a finger at him.

"Didn't you tell me it's customary in your culture to have marital encounters for more than procreation?" Bres reminded her.

"Not when you're under the influence of donuts! Now, behave," Lunette ordered firmly. "No, wait… cuddling is okay."

"That is good," Bres decided, settling back in.

Lunette came to regret the allowance, however, when he began to snore.

"Those damned donuts," Lunette muttered, casting a muffling spell on Bres before going to sleep.

The next morning, Lunette came downstairs to a strangely empty house. Shrugging to herself, she went over to the coffee pot..

"Would you like me to make you some breakfast, Lunette?" Mercy's voice asked.

"I'd settle for whatever morning bun or scone you baked this morning … if there are any left. If it's a hassle, I'll just go out," Lunette replied.

"It's no trouble. It'll be warm and waiting on the table by the time your coffee is finished," Mercy said.

"Thanks. Where's Jennifer at, anyway?" Lunette asked.

"She took the children to Madame Malkin's to be measured for school uniforms," Mercy replied.

"Already?" Lunette asked.

"Jennifer has meetings at Whitebridge soon. She has to be there to help finalize projects and goals for the year," Mercy explained. "Because of that, she has to get everything ready for Hogwarts early, and she also promised Anna that she would get Samantha's things since she was taking Seren anyway. But she did say she wouldn't be long. I'm sure she'll be back soon."

"Alright," Lunette said, eating and then making her way over to the computer.

It wasn't long before Jennifer, Quintin, Seren, and Samantha came in. Seren was carrying an empty animal cage of some kind, while the rest of them had shopping bags.

"Good morning, Seren! Did you get an invisible pet?" Lunette teased.

"It's a rabbit cage!" Seren explained happily. "I'm going to get a bunny kit!"

"My rabbit Ebony is visiting Mrs. Carmody this summer. He fathered a couple litters of rabbits, so she's going to let Seren have one of the bucks."

"But not until we go back to the school," Jennifer interrupted. "Quintin, help your sister get her things in her Hogwarts trunk and put the cage on top. Don't forget to sort out Samantha's uniforms so we can put them in her suitcase," Jennifer reminded him.

"Yes, Mum," Quintin said, and helped them up the stairs.

"A bit young for a familiar, isn't she?" Lunette inquired.

"I'm sure that both Quintin and Sir Hat will help her," Jennifer replied with a smile. "How is the research coming?"

"After spending the last few days at the Ministry, I am fairly convinced that my father never came through Britain. If my recent correspondence is any indication, I'm not going to find anything at the Euro Council or Asia Minor council either," Lunette said.

"How do you know that?" Jennifer asked.

"Oh, I've been sending his picture around,"Lunette explained.

"May I see it?" Jennifer asked.

Lunette got into her folder and handed it to her.

"Oh, it's a mugshot. You really do look like him though," Jennifer noted thoughtfully.

"Good thing too, or my grandfather may not have taken me in and might have left me to the demons," she said wryly.

"It's rather unflattering though, isn't it? Do you have any personal photos of him? Something with enough personality that Alicia could use to make a painting?" Jennifer suggested.

"No, of course I don't," Lunette said, and Jennifer frowned. "Look, he may be my father, but in the grand scheme of things, he's never been more than a distant relative to me personally… a relative that pops up now and again when he's so desperate that he has no one else to turn to. It's more like having an annoying uncle that you never see unless he wants something. Sure, I always help him out any time he asks, but other than blood, we've nothing in common," she said. Then she read Jennifer's fixed, stern expression. "No, of course you don't understand why I'd dismiss him like that. You're a Craw. You've been brought up to see that family is everything. But I was raised by my mother, Celina, who told everyone she was a widow because one night stands were frowned on in those days. Any time he came around on the pretense of visiting me as a child, it was typically because he wanted to beg for money or food or something."

"But she always gave it to him," Jennifer ventured. "And she let him visit you when he came. There must have still been some affection."

"My mother was a sucker for hard-luck cases. That's where I get it from," Lunette said curtly.

"But there must have been affection there… it isn't likely to have been one sided, or you wouldn't have been conceived. Didn't you tell me she was the one who seduced him instead of the other way around?" Jennifer pressed.

"I think seduced is a harsh word, but yes, she came onto him. But so what? It was just a one time fling because he was handsome," Lunette said. Jennifer frowned at the bedraggled Fae in the mugshot. "Well, ok, that shot is pretty unflattering. But when he's cleaned up, he's pretty good looking."

"The last time you helped him… that Woodstock thing. Did you help him because he was family, or did you help him because felt sorry for him?" Jennifer asked with disapproval.

"Both, I guess. Why are you angry with me all of the sudden? Don't compare your life to mine, Jennifer. I know that you and your father haven't always had the best of relationships either," Lunette snapped.

"Well, no we haven't, but we've always loved one another nevertheless. I think your father must care about you too, and you helping him just because you feel sorry for him was probably a bit much for him. That's probably why he's been avoiding you ever since. He doesn't want to risk you feeling sorry for him again. And since you make headlines wherever you go, you'd be extremely easy for him to avoid," Jennifer concluded.

"That's nothing but speculation, Jennifer, dubious speculation at that…"

"You told me that you eliminated New York City or San Francisco as a possibility because you had offices there, didn't you?" Jennifer confronted her. "You told me that you didn't think he'd be living anywhere you had business in."

"Because he didn't want to step on any toes! He didn't want to get caught in a situation where I'd feel obligated to step in, that's all!" Lunette explained loudly.

"Is that really all of it?" Jennifer asked critically. "You know, for a Truth Seeker and a lawyer, you're doing an awful lot of rationalising, especially about your father's motivations. You know next to nothing about him other than how he behaves when he's forced to beg. Do you realize just how much pain that must cause him? How much courage it would take for him to ask his own daughter for help to survive? He is a descendent of Danu herself, and yet his own child treats him like he is nothing but an inconvenience! If my child were to treat me in such a manner, I'd avoid her as well. In fact, I'm quite disgusted. You may have put bread in his hands when he reached out to you, but the fact that you never thought to simply reach out to get to know him makes me wonder why I ever looked up to you!"

Jennifer stormed off to put her shopping away, but her anger permeated the room even after she left it. Lunette set her plates on the nearest table to avoid taking them to the kitchen. She went up to her suite to find Bres sitting up with an empty potion bottle on his tray and sipping on a cup of coffee.

"Ah, Lunette, I am sorry if I overslept. Darcy left me some medicine, and I am starting to feel better," Bres said.

"I'm glad you're feeling better, but I need to leave," Lunette said firmly.

"I thought you said you were going to stay so that I could show you my exhibit today," Bres said.

"That's not going to happen now. I'm leaving this house and I'm not coming back. If you want to go to New York with me, you can, but if you're going to stay, you'll have to meet me at the Black Mansion, because I'm not staying here another night," Lunette said firmly.

"So it's you that Jennifer's angry at?" Bres concluded, rubbing his head. "Her anger is pulsing through me so strongly that I wasn't sure if Darcy's cure for the donuts was even working."

"Jennifer is a privileged brat who has so much family support that she's lost any credibility when it comes to her opinions about family estrangement. Despite that fact, she's decided that she's been so successful at orchestrating your life while we've been staying here that she's started nosing into my life too!" Lunette snapped at him.

"All of a sudden you're angry with me now," Bres observed, a bit puzzled. "Are you certain it is not your pregnancy causing your current emotional state?"

"Are you coming with me to New York or aren't you?" Lunette asked flatly.

"If that is what you want, I shall go with you. What should I bring? Will I be able to finish my summer job, or will I need to get a new one?" Bres asked. "We should probably let the doctor that Jennifer wrote to that his services are no longer required, and I should let Boulderdash know I won't be coming to Hogwarts if you plan to stay for very long…"

"Stop, stop. I didn't think that through," Lunette admitted grumpily. "Things are more complicated now than they were when we first got here. But I don't like getting tied down!"

"That much I know," Bres replied.

"Did Zoe go on holiday with her parents?" Lunette asked.

"I don't believe so," Bres said.

"Fine, then we'll stay at the Black Mansion instead," she said, then began packing.

"That sounds like a reasonable decision," Bres decided with a smile, finishing his coffee and getting dressed.

Jennifer wasn't in the least bit surprised when Lunette left without a word. She was a great deal more surprised that Bres left until Darcy passed on the Delf's message about where they were going. Well, at least Lunette had the good sense not to talk Bres out of quitting early, Jennifer brooded. With any luck, Bres could try to talk some sense into her. Would she even bother telling him what happened? The level of trust in their relationship was still quite unclear. What was clear was that Lunette wasn't likely to get far on the search for her father if she didn't start putting her preconceptions aside.